New Nicotine Alliance

July 2019 may have been declared the warmest month on record globally, but we at the NNA will remember it as a month in which we gave a cool reception to several regulatory suggestions; some well-meaning, some not so. Here is a round-up of this month’s NNA activities.

Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Associatio

A comprehensive review of the effects of vaping on the lungs has confirmed that vaping is much less harmful than smoking. The findings are in line with the advice from the British Lung Foundation and reflect the real-world experience of millions of users.

PubMed, National Institutes of Health

Compared to cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use is likely to present a reduced risk of smoking-related disease (SRD). However, several studies have shown that vaping predicts smoking initiation and might provide a gateway into smoking for those who otherwise would never have smoked. This paper considers various aspects of the gateway issue in youths.

Diane Caruana, Vaping Post

While tobacco and alcohol sales were already prohibited on Facebook Marketplace, as of this week, the new policy will also prohibit all private sales, trades, transfers and gifting of alcohol, tobacco products and e-cigarettes on Facebook and Instagram. According to CNN, any businesses that post content related to alcohol and tobacco will have to restrict content to people aged 18 and above.

thatgotmethinkingblog

I wish Juul hadn’t launched here in Ireland

No really, they are more trouble than they are worth. Juul is no different than any of the other so-called pod systems on the market. But what they do have is a reputation. Some will call this brand awareness, I call it the ‘bad boy’ image. Do they deserve it? Probably not. As I said they are much the same as any of the others who escaped this spotlight. That’s not the point. The point is rightly or wrongly Juul bring this negative image with them.

Carrie Wade, Chelsea Boyd, RStreet

Concerns that aim to protect non-users are often more influential in driving policy changes than evidence that points to a benefit for smokers. And, this will only result in policies that aim to restrict the availability of e-cigarettes, even as it places many current smokers at the considerable risk of continued smoking. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the most recent and robust research and evidence is considered when proposing actions that may have potential to act as a harm reduction tool for both current and future smokers.

Gaelle Walker, Convenience Store

With dedicated electronic cigarette shops opening in hospitals, shopfloor vaping displays taking centre stage in pharmacies, and public endorsements by midwife and doctor groups, UK health professionals are demonstrating more faith than ever before in the health benefits of vaping compared with smoking.

Erin Schumaker, Elemental

In July, San Francisco Mayor London Breed put pen to paper, signing an ordinance to effectively ban the sale of electronic cigarettes, making it the first major city in the United States to put stringent regulations on e-cigarettes.

For several years, e-cigarette companies like Juul have been decried by politicians, the media and even the nation’s top doctor, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who last year called e-cigarette use “an epidemic among our nation’s young people.”

Christien Kafton, KTVU

The Ballot Simplification Committee works on the wording of the digest that voters will have available as they make their decision on how to vote in November.

The process of picking the wording about how voters will learn about ballot initiatives is normally dry and doesn’t draw much attention, but it drew both sides of the vaping debate to City Hall on Tuesday. The consensus: words matter.

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

Health officials in Wisconsin are grappling with an outbreak of severe lung ailments that may be related to vaping. Or they may not be related to vaping. Unfortunately, in their desire to avoid additional cases—and their zeal to prove their anti-vaping bonafides—the Wisconsin authorities have created a panic that will be counterproductive to public health.

Three from Dave Cross, Planet of The Vapes

Dr Joel Ingersoll goes myth busting about vaping in a video hosted on his Linkedin social media site, announcing that he is going to tell you “what you need to know” about electronic cigarettes. The psychologist and “master life coach” doesn’t produce any surprises, just some moments of pure idiocy.

Ranil Jayawardena MP wants to ban vape shops from hospitals and clamp down on vaping in public. He is also concerned that vaping might increase nicotine addiction, blood pressure and heart attack rates. Fortunately, the UK government is driven by evidence-based policy making thanks to the efforts of harm reduction campaigners.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has announced that he is “investigating” JUUL Labs and has appeared on television to spout nonsense. He stuttered through a presentation screened by NBC’s Today Show and repeatedly stumbled, forgetting facts and sources, during an interview.

Anoo Bhuyan, The Wire

New Delhi: The government of India continues to go strong against e-cigarette companies. It has not only made their entry and sale in India challenging, but is now also clamping down on any possibility of research on e-cigarettes.

The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has issued a circular asking medical institutions to exercise restraint on any research on electronic nicotine delivery devices (ENDS).

Electronic cigarettes may soon become much more widely available in the world’s largest tobacco market: The People’s Republic of China. With over 300 million smokers, China has the world’s largest smoking population – which directly results in approximately 1 million deaths annually.